With a deal between the NFL and the referees’ union inching closer to completion, replacement refs will soon be replaced by the real deals. But before the flags change hands, let's compare and contrast the substitute officials' trends of the first three weeks to the regular refs’ numbers through Week 3 last season.

Length of games

One of the most obvious differences is the average time of game through the first three weeks. This year, more games have featured lengthy huddles among the officials to sort out the action on the field and determine the proper call. Through the first three weeks of last season, the average game took 3 hours, 7 minutes. This year, it's 3 hours, 16 minutes. Perhaps the NFL anticipated this trend when it decided to move back the kickoff times of the late-afternoon doubleheader games to 4:25 p.m. ET, thus giving the networks a 10-minute cushion to prevent early game action from bleeding over into the doubleheader window.

Total penalties

We looked at both the number and type of penalties being called to see if the replacements are throwing more flags or having problems calling particular infractions. We found that penalties aren't significantly higher this year as an aggregate. In fact, over the last 10 years, two seasons have had more penalties called in the first three weeks than this season and another season had the same amount:

2012 — 655

2011 — 623

2010 — 626

2009 — 601

2008 — 574

2007 — 546

2006 — 566

2005 — 712

2004 — 655

2003 — 699

Biggest differences

Several types of penalties have been on the uptick with the sub officials. As you probably have noticed, the replacements have had a decidedly different interpretation on pass interference and defensive holding than the regulars. And personal fouls are way, way up.

Defensive pass interference — 38 last year, 60 this year

Defensive holding — 20 last year, 29 this year

Offensive holding — 110 last year (through the first three weeks), 131 this year

Personal foul — 5 last year, 23 this year

While this is admittedly a small sample size that could even out over the course of 17 weeks, these findings seem to indicate that the replacement officials are being overly cautious in their interpretation of contact in the secondary on passing plays. Why? Perhaps NFL defensive backs are accustomed to a more physical style of play, whereas their counterparts in the college game (where most of the replacement officials normally work) don't try to get away with as much contact.

The increase in holding penalties could indicate a difference between the rules in the NCAA and NFL that the replacement officials haven't adjusted to.

As for the personal fouls, it's possible that players are pushing the boundaries in physical play to see what the officials will allow, but it's also possible that the NFL is played at a much faster pace by bigger, stronger players and the replacement refs aren't used to seeing so many high-impact collisions.

In 2011, there was only one week in which more than five personal fouls were called—we've already passed that barrier twice in three weeks this season.

So if you think the replacement officials have had an impact on the game beyond merely slowing things down, the statistics back up your suspicions.

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